Visit to Shihnui Junior High School

This photo is of their faculty along with administration and our teachers. The beautiful mural we are standing in front of was a commissioned mural by a local artist carved into stone and then painted. It is made in panels and then hung together to create the final mural.

Students were waiting for us before lunch to do an origami lesson. Yippee!

There were lots of posters around the school created by students to welcome us!

Our visit to the junior high school was awesome! We were greeted by smiling faces, both from administrators and students. They were all so eager to talk with us and we were excited about spending the day there. The junior high system is set up for 7th, 8th, and 9th graders who are called "first", "second" and "third" grade. It was the first day we were given the opportunity to eat with the children in their classroom setting. Did you know that students in Japan actually have a designated time each day to "clean" their school. They do it themselves and they do it every day for approx. 15 minutes. Sweeping, raking the school grounds, dusting, cleaning the floors...all of these jobs done by students every day.

On the day of our arrival, all of the students were participating in a school wide program to prepare for their annual "cultural festival" which is a competition in choral music, speech/diction, drama/theatrical performance, mandolin and chimes and taiko drumming. None of the students had classes during the morning in order to give them time for rehearsals, so we met with administrators during the beginning of our day and then walked the school with the principal for a tour. It is a new facility, just opening in March, but the school has been around for over 100 years. They have already begun a new gym and are building a new pool. The Mayor of Uki City has designated education to be his number one goal and told us in our meeting that there is "no holes barred" on the amount of money they will spend for the education of their children. It is evident that a lot of time, effort and funding has gone into the renovations of the school.

At lunchtime we met with the first graders for an origami lesson and singing. After that we were split into groups and were hosted in classrooms for lunch. Students help prepare all of their meals and take turns serving the food every day. Students in Japan do not use a "lunch room" system, but instead eat in their classrooms. I was assigned lunch with a third grade class (9th) and found that not knowing the language was really tough. But the students and I were patient with each other and found ways to figure out our questions. They had a sheet of suggested questions for the teachers which helped a lot.

During the afternoon we watched the rehearsals in the gym. This was really nice because we had a sneak peek at what would be going on during their festival on Sunday. At the end of the day we met with administrators and teachers for a question/answer time and finished our day with a group shot. It has been a tremendous learning time for all of us and the students were simply beautiful, very respectful students. I miss them already!

OK, here is your question of the day...How tall is Mt. Fuji? Until next time...